


Tapping the Fire

by SireneNomdePlume



Category: Queen of the Tearling
Genre: Coping with the feels, F/M, Gratuitous Smut, I couldn't help myself, I had to write something to get my mind off of things, I love Row I don't care what people think, Some spoilers for Invasion of the Tearling and Fate of the Tearling, Wow, no one will read this, no one writes in this fandom?, too many emotions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-17
Updated: 2017-11-17
Packaged: 2019-02-03 17:11:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12752610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SireneNomdePlume/pseuds/SireneNomdePlume
Summary: Rowland Finn comes to Kelsea late one night before she offers herself to the Red Queen, and Kelsea can't find it within herself to deny the monster when he's the most hungry. So she feeds him briefly, and there's something about his story that she wants to know...but she won't get any answers from him.





	Tapping the Fire

**Author's Note:**

> No one has written any Queen of the Tearling fics yet? I'm the first?! I just finished the last book in three hours and holy hot damn, that ending left me so empty that I needed something to fill the void. So, no one will probably read this but I needed to get my mind off of it, and I loved Finn's character for some reason, and I wanted to pair him with Kelsea. I used to ship Kelsea with the Fetch, but when we were introduced to Row's story more, wow I was intrigued. So this is my coping mechanism for that damn last freaking chapter. I don't know what to feel. And since I have too many feels, I'm also working on my own new take on the ending of the book. It'll be dark, and I have to let these emotions out!

She kept her fire lit after she went into one of her strange trances. 

Foolish girl. 

He could tell she was starting to come to, but no one was coming for her. It was late, and Row was the only one who could see her lithe form struggling against the sheets. He swallowed. Ever since she had freed him, he hadn't thought to come back, to see her once more. 

But Lily Mayhew's face was staring up at him now, and Row retreated back into the shadows. 

"Who's there?" 

Row paused, before speaking. "Someone who wants to help you, Tear queen." 

"You?" She lifted herself off of the bed and squinted at him. "I'm doing this anyway."

 _Ah, yes._ Row's face twisted in an ironic sort of snarl. Her sacrifice to the Red Queen, that foolish woman who so many years ago was as lost and as lonely as a starved wolf pup, begging for a mother, a family. But that pup grew to be a fierce, deadly wolf, cutting and tearing into whoever merged with her path. 

Row was quite tired of Evelyn. How boring she was. This Kelsea Glynn was much more interesting and had more power at her disposal. 

_His power._

It radiated off of her, and Row had to swallow back his excitement. The girl was wary now, but as he continued to gaze at her, she seemed to relax a little, a blush spreading across her face and winding down her breasts. Young women could be so predictable sometimes. But oh, he longed to touch her in that moment, and it's been _so many years,_ so many centuries since he had been free, since he could _really_ touch, and feel...

She stood up out of the bed to stare at him. "What are you doing here?" 

The forcefulness of her tone, almost a demand, made something rise up inside of him and coil up in fiery tendrils. She reminded him of Katie, and while this girl would never _dare_ wear his crown, she wouldn't _dare,_ he pictured what it would look like sitting atop her head, as she glared down at her enemies to smite them. 

Row felt his face split into a grin he was sure wouldn't be comforting at all. "I've only come to see how you are." 

The girl looked down at her bare feet. "I'm fine." 

"Fine?" Row came closer, but the girl hadn't budged. Her breathing was erratic though, as he slid his hand over her shoulder as gently as he could. Gentleness wasn't something that came easy to him, _it wasn't,_ but it was as if his hands were acting of their own accord. 

"You're not fine," Row whispered, his mouth caressing the shell of her ear. He let a slow smirk spread across his pale features as she shuddered against him. "Forget about them, for a moment." 

The girl looked at the door, and for a moment, Row was sure she would run. But she relaxed into his grip instead, and Row had to bite back a crow of triumph.

* * *

Kelsea knew Penn had to be outside of the door. They had an argument the other night, and Kelsea felt a stab of guilt when she remembered how she had pushed him away. This man was dangerous, not even a whole man—he was a dark creature, born from the flames of her fireplace. Where did he come from? Why was everyone so scared of him?

She knew she should be, as his arms twined around her and pushed her back on the bed. But she wasn't, and all she wanted to do was come. Her heart beat frantically against her chest, and she felt hollow as she heard it echo in her ears. 

He lifted her nightgown over her head with ease, and she blushed with something a little bit like shame as his fingers skirted lightly over her cuts. "What's this?" 

"Something that's not any of your business," Kelsea spat, but she shivered as he moved lower, as fluidly as a mountain cat, to kiss one of the cuts that ran across her thigh, just a hair's breadth away from her mons. 

He was better than Penn somehow, and oh, how Kelsea hated to admit that. But when his mouth was on her, his jaw moving against her as if he wanted to eat her alive, Kelsea forgot about everything and everyone else. 

What would Mace think?

She pushed down Carlin and Mace's faces that swam to the forefront of her mind, accusing her, telling her not to trust this man whose face was buried in her pussy, devouring her in earnest now. He moaned against her and he broke away, staring up at her. 

His eyes were glimmering red as their gazes met, and he didn't break it as he lowered his head again, his tongue snaking out as he licked her languidly. Kelsea clenched and grabbed handfuls of his thick, dark hair. He seemed to like that, if the little growl of approval was anything to go by, and Kelsea began to grind herself against his face. He sucked her clit in and lashed it with his tongue, and her world went as red as his eyes that glittered in the dim light. He lifted himself up to engulf one nipple into his hot, unforgiving mouth, and Kelsea shuddered as she arched into him.

He didn't give her much time to recover. Soon she felt him breach her, and he was bigger than Penn, so much rougher as he thrust into her, her head banging against the headboard as he went at her like a battering ram. Kelsea felt herself spiraling up again, and it only seemed to spur the creature on. What was he? What was his story? Why did the Fetch warn her against him? 

But the urge to find out was lost to her as he hit her in _just the right spot,_ and her fingers clawed against the back of his neck as she panted, feeling his body heat burn her as if she were a kerosine lamp, filled with his fire. 

"You're an interesting girl, Kelsea Glynn," the monster sighed, and stilled, shoving himself in her one last time before pumping his seed deep inside of her. She clenched around him as if milking his cock, and he didn't break away, not yet, because she wasn't finished _feeling him,_ even though it must have been an hour or three or...she couldn't even tell how much time had passed, but all thoughts of Lily Mayhew and William Tear were wiped from her mind, and she only cared about the present. Even the future didn't hold as much allure unless the future entailed him to touch her one more time. 

Which he did, his broad hand trailing down to rub her clit as he slipped out of her, their fluids mingling and spilling out on her sheets. How was she going to explain this? 

But he pinched her hard, and she came screaming, burying her face in his hair and smelling something like burnt cedar, fresh pine trees, _danger._ She pulsed against him as he rubbed her tenderly now, and with a shudder, she fell back against the pillows. 

"I must go now, Tear queen," Row murmured, his breath ghosting over her cheek as he nuzzled the side of her face. "But I won't be far." 

And Kelsea felt a sickening feeling pool deep in her gut as he broke away and turned to the fireplace. 

_He never was._

And she didn't know why.


End file.
